222. HELIOGABALUS, emperor of Rome, assassinated. He was a cruel,
vindictive and licentious tyrant.
1333. LADISLAUS III of Poland died. He oppressed the people till they
revolted and placed Wenceslaus upon the throne. On the death of the
latter he was reinstated and governed with justice and moderation.
1668. JOHN DENHAM, a British poet, died. One of his poems, _Cooper's
Hill_, is commended by the ablest critics.
1673. HENRIETTA COLIGNI, a French poetess of much celebrity, died.
1683. The first council and assembly of Pennsylvania met at Chester. The
session occupied 22 days.
1686. JAMES II granted a general pardon to many of his subjects,
excepting among others the girls of Taunton who gave a Bible and sword
to Monmouth. James never favored the Bible.
1726. The Lyford giant born; when five years of age he could lift one
hundred weight with one hand.
1736. WILLIAM COSBY, captain general and commander in chief of the
province of New York, died, almost universally detested.
1774. WILLIAM BROWNE, an English physician, died. The active part he
took in the contest against the licentiates, occasioned his being
introduced by Foote into his play of the _Devil upon Two Sticks_. He is
distinguished by many lively essays in English, and Latin prose and
verse.
1776. ELIAS CATHERINE FRERON, a French _litterateur_, died. He was the
constant subject of Voltaire's satire, who called him the tyrant, rather
than the king of literature.
1776. The British soldiery, contrary to orders, plundered Boston.
1783, ANTHONY LOYDI, a farmer of Amezquet, Spain, died, aged 114. He had
never been sick until a few days before his death, always abstained from
wine and tobacco, and retained his senses, his teeth and hair until he
died.
1785. N. SABLIER, an eminent French author, died at Paris.
1789. The city of London brilliantly illuminated on account of the
convalescence of the king.
1792. JOHN, earl of Bute, died. He was made prime minister of England,
from which he voluntarily retired to enjoy a life of learned leisure.
1797. The city of Albany made the capital of the state of New York.
1797. Delaware county, in the state of New York, erected.
1812. BONAPARTE issued a decree _denationalizing_ all flags that should
submit to the British orders in council.
1813. Action at night in Chesapeake bay between the United States
schooner Adeline and the British schooner Lottery; the latter it is
supposed was sunk.
1819. FREDERICK HENRY JACOBI, a German philosophical writer, died.
1820. BENJAMIN WEST, the painter, died at London, aged 82. He was born
at Springfield, Penn., 1738. The first indications of his genius were
elicited at the age of seven years, by drawing the portrait of his
sleeping sister in red and black ink. He began painting as a profession
at the age of 18, and four years after went to England. He was
subsequently induced by Sir Joshua Reynolds to take up his residence in
London, where he acquired a reputation seldom attained, and at the time
of his death was president of the Royal academy.
1826. JOHN PINKERTON, an eminent and voluminous Scottish author, died at
Paris, aged 68.
1829. The William and Anne, a British trading vessel, wrecked at the
mouth of Columbia river, on the north-west coast of America, and the
whole crew, 16 Europeans and 10 Sandwich islanders, murdered by the
natives.
1833. SAMUEL TUCKER, an American revolutionary commodore, died at
Bremen, Maine. He was distinguished as a brave and able commander, and
at the time of his death, was supposed to have been, next to Lafayette,
the highest surviving officer of the revolution.
1855. JAMES BROWN, an eminent book-publisher of Boston, Mass., died,
aged 55. He not only was eminent in his profession, but possessed the
taste and spirit of a scholar.
1855. CARLOS, the claimant of the Spanish throne from the time of the
death of Ferdinand in 1833, died at Trieste, where he was known as the
conde de Molina.
1855. The college building at Princeton, N. J., known as Nassau hall,
was destroyed by fire. It was built in 1756 and in the Revolutionary war
was used for barracks, by both the British and Americans.